


Dum-E and College Shenanigans (or How Tony Learns that Dum-E Takes Orders Very Seriously)

by martianwahtney



Series: prompts [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, MIT Era, college shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 11:05:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9545699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/martianwahtney/pseuds/martianwahtney
Summary: prompt:  "Can you write something about Rhodey and Tony in their MIT days? Annoying professors, partying, getting in trouble, fooling around, etc."





	

Rhodey walked into the robotics lab in search of his best friend. It had been a few days since he’d seen Tony. It made their shared engineering class a lot more boring when Tony wasn’t there to one up the professor every ten minutes.  
  
“Tones!”  
  
Instead of Tony responding, there was a series of beeps and chirps. The person he was looking for, however, didn’t respond. That either meant the kid was passed out, or wasn’t there. Considering that the robotics lab was one of two places that Tony haunted (the other place was Rhodey’s apartment which he already checked), Rhodes knew that the kid had to be in there somewhere.  
  
Rhodey moved further into the lab. Tony took up his space near the back so he could do whatever the fuck he wanted and no one would bother him, or at least that’s how Tony worded it.  
  
“Tones?”  
  
“Back here buttercup- not you dummy! Jesus!”  
  
Rhodes paused for a moment before continuing on his way to Tony. He found the kid sitting in front of a robot with one arm and a claw.  
  
“Dude,” Rhodey said.  
  
Tony was covered in grease, his hair was sticking up at odd angles, and there were about twenty cups of coffee scattered around his workshop.  
  
“I… I don’t know how to explain this. I don’t even remember making him and I guess I’m an asshole to myself when I’m drunk because the code doesn’t fucking makes sense… I have no idea how he’s functioning right now,” Tony squinted his eyes at the machine in front of him.  
  
“You made a robot,”  
  
“I made an AI… a low functioning AI,”  
  
Rhodey looked at the robot again, the word Dum-E had been written in large letters along the arm, and at the base was ‘Property of Tony Stark’.  
  
“You named him Dum-E?”  
  
The bot chirped and swung its arm around to Rhodes and started pulling at his jacket with its claw.  
  
“God you’re a menace! Go bother someone else!” Tony snapped.  
  
“I didn’t come here to get groped by an AI, so c’mon Tones, you need a shower, something to eat and at least three hours of sleep… preferably in that order,”  
  
Tony managed to look mildly offended.  
  
“Rhodey-bear are you saying I don’t smell like roses?” he asked in mock hurt.  
  
“I’m saying you fucking stink, are you coming?”  
  
Tony grumbled under his breath but he grabbed his things and followed Rhodey out of the robotics lab.  
  
–  
  
He returned five hours later. He was in a surprisingly good mood, he was clean, he’d just had a nice date night with his honey bear, and he’d gotten a full three hours of sleep. He was ready to work on Dum-E’s code.  
  
There was just one problem.  
  
Dum-E wasn’t in the lab.  
  
“What the fuck,”  
  
He went right back to Rhodey’s apartment and together they hunted through MIT looking for the damned robot. Many people had seen Dum-E and were able to point them in the direction of the bot. It took them nearly an hour to track the thing down. To Tony’s delight, and Rhodey’s horror, the bot had found their least favorite engineering Professor and was playing a fantastic game of keep away with the man’s briefcase.  
  
“Oh my god,”  
  
“He’s brilliant,” Tony whispered, a massive smile on his face.  
  
“He’s going to get us in trouble,” Rhodey responded.  
  
“Dum-E!”  
  
The bot chirped happily.  
  
“Put it down,”  
  
Dum-E opened its claw and the briefcase dropped to the ground.  
  
“My bad Professor!” Tony called, still unable to keep the shit eating grin off his face.  
  
“C’mon Dum-E, let’s get you back to the lab, huh?”  
  
The bot rolled over to Tony, chirping happily as it did so. Tony placed his hand on its arm as they walked toward the lab.  
  
“You did a good job Dum-E,” Tony said at last.  
  
“Tony!” Rhodey’s voice was sharp.  
  
“But you can’t do that again, honey bear won’t be able to take the shock,” Tony teased.  
  
“Low functioning AI my ass,” Rhodes grumbled.  
  
“Wanna help me make more?” Tony asked.  
  
“Hell yea,”

**Author's Note:**

> posted to my tumblr  
> [here](http://www.anthonystarhk.tumblr.com/)


End file.
